By defending Jitender Tomar, AAP and Kejriwal are unnecessarily risking too much

The arrest for now former law minister of Delhi, Jitender Tomar, on charges of obtaining two fake degrees from two different universities have all the right ingredients for a Bollywood masala movie. The script is more interesting only because Tomar’s political bosses have refused to take any cognizance of his alleged wrong doing till the every end. Tomar was finally asked to submit his resignation hours after magistrate remanded him to four-day police custody. The likes of Lalu Yadav, Uma Bharti, Shibu Soren and Yeddyurappa have resigned from chief minister’s post in the past when faced with the possibility of arrest in different cases. They too had claimed a political conspiracy to oust them but vacated their seat of power either before arrest or at least before a judge remanded them to custody. [caption id=“attachment_2288570” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AAP activists protesting outside court yesterday. PTI[/caption] Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal believed in Tomar’s innocence despite the police being convinced of him indulging in forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy. Kejriwal hasn’t spoken on Tomar’s arrest and custody yet and his Twitter account has also been silent. However, his colleagues lost no time in blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for indulging in ‘politics of vendetta’ and ‘creating an Emergency-like situation’. It might have seemed like a good idea to stand by their colleague to give the party’s rank and file a sense of confidence. However, Kejriwal and his team erred in their strategy of first inducting Tomar into the cabinet and then continuing to retain him despite the Bar Council of Delhi saying that his graduation degree from Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh university was forged. The Bar Council of Delhi had conducted an inquiry due to directions from the Delhi High Court and later gave its findings in the form of a complaint to the Delhi Police for further investigation. The Tilka Manji University, whose provisional certificate Tomar used to get his licence from Delhi Bar Council, had also submitted an affidavit to the High Court stating that Tomar’s degree was fake. The AAP leadership’s defence of Tomar now rests on the argument that the Principal of the college in Munger, where Tomar supposedly studied law, says he was enrolled as a law student in the institution. But if his BSc degree is fake then his law degree becomes invalid, irrespective of the fact whether he ever studied law and passed exams. He could have enrolled for a degree in law only if he had a regular graduation course. Prima facie Tomar’s defence appears to be very thin. He will now be subjected to custodial interrogation and will have to travel to the places he claims to have studied and stayed. It will not be a happy experience for the former Law Minister. Besides verifying his claims, the police’ will also probe to be see if there was a larger racket to supply fake degrees in place. The Delhi Police has already held a press conference and claimed that both his degrees were forged. But the issue wouldn’t have been such a major one if Kejriwal had removed Tomar from the cabinet till the investigation and court cases were over. Kejriwal’s erred in relying too much on Tomar. Tomar’s forged degree issue came to light in January 2015, before elections were held in Delhi and multiple authorities have taken turns to declare his degrees fake. Kejriwal, however, remained unmoved. It might have been the result of stubbornness and the politics of confrontation that he has indulged in since the AAP came to power with a massive majority. As a result, Kejriwal has undertaken a huge political gamble. If the courts pronounce Tomar guilty of obtaining fake degrees then Kejriwal and AAP’s credibility would suffer a body blow. The party will have a difficult time in assessing its losses. By late Tuesday evening, after a magistrate sent Tomar to police custody, the tone and tenor of AAP leaders changed. There is a realisation among a section of AAP leaders that the Delhi Police would not have arrested Tomar and got clearance from their higher ups unless they had solid evidence against him. Conversely, if the prosecution failed to prove that Tomar’s degrees are fake and is guilty of committing forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy, it will be a major embarrassment for Modi government. After all the Delhi Police is controlled directly by the union home ministry and the Lieutenant Governor too is a nominee of the centre.